WASHINGTON –The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that Energy Star certified clothes dryers are now available nationwide through major retailers. At least 45 models of dryers earning the Energy Star label, including Whirlpool, Maytag, Kenmore, LG, and Safemate, are at least 20 percent more efficient and now available at prices comparable to standard dryers.

“Dryers are one of the most common household appliances and the biggest energy users,” said U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “EPA’s Energy Star certified clothes dryers offer Americans an opportunity to save energy and do their part to combat climate change. By working with industry, we are bringing innovative technology to market that’s good for the planet.”

Clothes dryers consume more energy than any other appliance in the home, and 80 percent of American homes have dryers. But unlike clothes washers, which have seen a 70 percent drop in energy use since 1990, the energy efficiency of most dryers has not improved. If all residential clothes dryers sold in the U.S. were Energy Star certified, Americans could save $1.5 billion each year in utility costs and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equal to the electricity use from more than 1.3 million homes.

The efficiency specifications were developed with extensive input from manufacturers, retailers, the U.S. Department of Energy, and environmental groups. Manufacturers meet the specification requirements by incorporating advanced sensors that more effectively detect when clothes are dry and stop the dryer.

Energy Star certified dryers include gas, electric and compact models. The Energy Star label can also be found on dryers that feature new advanced heat pump technology and are 40 percent more efficient than conventional models. Heat pump dryers recapture the hot air used by the dryer and pump it back into the drum. By re-using most of the heat, a heat pump dryer is more efficient and avoids the need for ducts.For the complete Press Release:

The quality of the Indoor Air of our homes and offices is an important part of our health and comfort.

There is not much sense in putting a lot of good insulation into a building if it is:

Not Structurally Sound

Not Healthy

What types of things can be done to improve the Indoor Air Quality of any home or property?

The immediate environment of the structure must be kept separate from the inside.

The required fresh air that is needed, in every one of our buildings, should be filtered and otherwise treated for comfort and to remove pollutants.

The pollutants that are created during the normal operation of our building must be eliminated, removed, replaced, diluted or neutralized.

Moisture in any form must be controlled , and then removed avoiding any accumulation.

Any and all accumulations of moisture damage or animal infestation must be cleaned up and damaged building components replaced.

A Full Indoor Air Quality evaluation must address all of those concerns.

Full interior visual inspection

Full exterior visual inspection

Testing of the building enclosure to ensure the outside stays outside

Infrared Evaluation as part of the above testing

Inspection of HVAC Duct Work and systems that move air.

Combustion Safety Inspection on open combustion appliances

Moisture, Carbon Monoxide, N02, SO2 and others

Infrared and other testing for moisture accumulations.

Sample Collection of suspended and/or deposited material that are potential pollutants or irritants.

Examination and Evaluation by a certified Microbiological Laboratory of these samples.

This evaluation is typically completed in two visits to the home or business. Level I Evaluation and Testing is non-destructive and not invasive.

Level II Evaluation and Testing involves invasive inspections. These may be as simple as drilling a few holes for visual inspection or sampling. It may involve removing obviously damaged building material, that requires replacement, for example wet drywall.

Contact The Energy Guy for further information about an Indoor Air Quality Evaluation.

Each home can have many items that could be classified as pests. Some people think spiders are pests. Others let them live. I think ragweed pollen is no fun in the late summer, in my mind that qualifies as a pest. This post will concentrate on those pests of the insect type, and perhaps a few that are a little larger, but not plants.

Larger then an insect? Yes, I’ve seen them. Rodents a similar size animals can create problems. If designers, builders, remodelers or homeowners address the concepts of pest free with insects, the potential for rodent size problems are reduced and perhaps eliminated.

Yes, that is a dead squirrel in an attic. Nice size rodent. Somewhat of a pest. The homeowner in this case knew where the squirrels were getting in. He had fixed their way in the previous fall, now he got to fix it again.

Under the posts about ‘A Dry House’ we looked at using a sealed cover on the sump to control the humidity. Another reason for the sealed cover is to keep out insect sized pests. Sumps are connected to to outside with perforated pipe to collect the water before it enters the basement wall. This pipe is buried next to the foundation in sand and gravel. It is probably not a large entry place on a newer home, but with age, it is nice to know the sealed cover keeps them out.

Most residential attics in this area are ventilated. The use of lower vents (left) in the soffits and higher vents near the top of the peak (right) allow a natural air flow. These vents should be screened to keep pests out. Most vents are supplied with screen. It should be installed and maintained. If it gets holes, replacement is fairly easy. When your roof is replaced these peak vents should be replaced. That will maintain the screen intact. If you choose to use Ridge Vent, it should be screened also. Keeping pests out of the attic will keep them out of the home.

If pests get into the attic there are always a few holes for them to squeeze through into the house. Electrical or plumbing penetrations are common. The other place in most homes are the top plate joints that are not sealed. This was covered in Part 2 a Clean Home.

Other vents to check would be the dryer vent and any exhaust fan vents. Make sure your exhaust vents run to the outside of your home. Many times they are just left open to the attic. In that case, you have several 4 inch openings right into your home. Not only can pests enter, you will also find the seasonally heated or cooled air will also be coming in. The image on the right is a typical exhaust duct that does not go to the outside.

This post is written as a conversation between a homeowner and myself as it could have occurred during a Home Energy Audit. It is actually the gathering together of several conversations on different audits over the past few years.

A Healthy Home is Free of Combustion By-Products

Homeowner: Oh! You mean no Carbon Monoxide! I have a Carbon Monoxide Detector. It has had some false alarms, but it has never found a problem.

The Energy Guy: OK! Carbon Monoxide (CO) is one by product of combustion. There are others.

Homeowner: So, you mean the house must be all electric?

The Energy Guy: No, not necessarily. An all electric home, might have a fire place, and an attached garage. Both are sources of CO and other byproducts of combustion. A healthy home will deal with all of these in some fashion.

Homeowner: What other things are you talking about besides CO?

The Energy Guy: The one I see the most of is moisture. Many of the flue pipes I’ve seen have rusted from the moisture. If you have a gas hot water heater, look at the top. Is the top rusting, what about the flue pipe or the draft diverter? Moisture from open combustion appliances also increases the humidity in the home and adds unneeded work to your air conditioning unit, increasing the bill.

There are others, such as Nitrogen Dioxide, and Sulphur Dioxide, and various particles of all sorts.

Homeowner: So, those are like Carbon Dioxide? Something that is just there?

The Energy Guy: Yes! They are just there, with two concerns. First the Lung Association points out the health effects of Sulphur Dioxide include:

Wheezing, shortness of breath and chest tightness and other problems, especially during exercise or physical activity.

Continued exposure at high levels increases respiratory symptoms and reduces the ability of the lungs to function.

Short exposures to peak levels of SO2 in the air can make it difficult for people with asthma to breathe when they are active outdoors.

Health effects of Nitrogen dioxide include:

Increased inflammation of the airways

Worsened cough and wheezing

Reduced lung function

Increased asthma attacks

Greater likelihood of emergency department and hospital admissions

Increased susceptibility to respiratory infection, such as influenza

Homeowner: I’m pretty healthy, but you said ‘First!’

The Energy Guy: The second is moisture. Moisture could be a high humidity situation, or moisture from the combustion that produced these dioxides and if you inhale some of them, or moisture in your nose and lungs. Here are the basic chemical equations for those interested.

The Energy Guy: Yes, it does. These acids start the rust process, I mentioned earlier. The other place you can look for rust is to look at the flue on the roof of some homes. If the coating is attacked by the acids, then rust occurs.

So How do I keep this stuff out of my home and away from my family?

The Energy Guy: First install some Carbon Monoxide Detectors. If your furnace and water heater are in the basement, you need one down there. You also need one near bedrooms.

Homeowner: OK! I’ll get that one that works with my Nest!

The Energy Guy: That will work for one. The Nest Protect is like most CO detectors, it will alarm at the higher amounts of CO as required by the Underwriters Laboratory requirements. These start at 70ppm of CO for an hour. Professional organizations such as ASHRAE and NIOSH list 35ppm as the level for technicians and others to stop work, turn off equipment and evacuate the building. A low level detector is important.

Low Level CO detectors do not meet the UL requirement because they alarm at lower levels, typically 20ppm. 15-20ppm CO levels have been found to impair judgement in people exposed for short periods of time. The UL testing does not allow a CO detector to pass if it alarms below 30 ppm. Low level CO exposure can result in headaches and general malaise. If you are exposed to low levels over a period of months or years the effect is unknown at this time.

Homeowner: OK! So I’ll get a low level detector also. What else can I do.

The Energy Guy: Do some careful air sealing between the garage and the house. You can add exhaust ventilation to your garage as recommended in the International Residential Code. Open the door before you start the car, and then immediately back out. More information about CO and the garage. Air sealing here and a simple closer on the door to the garage will help keep CO and other pollutants from the garage out of the house.

Inside the house, you can buy smart when you replace your water heater or furnace. Buy sealed combustion units. These are generally more efficient units, so they will save you some on your bill each month.

Water Heaters can be sealed combustion, such as the demand models or a power vented unit. Either of these units can be identified with the use of PVC exhaust flue, instead of the metal flue needed by traditional units. They do not need the metal, because the exhaust is a lower temperature. This has a side effect of increased efficiency. The image to the right is the flue of at sealed combustion furnace.

Finally, think about your wood burning fireplace or your gas oven. These also create the same problems. Here a low level CO detector would be very valuable. Following the fireplace manufacturers instructions in keeping the glass door shut and having it checked regularly are important. For a gas range, especially with a gas oven, install an exhaust fan that vents to the outside.

A Healthy Home is well ventilated. Everyone knows fresh air is important. This should be easy. Well ventilated in more than just bringing in fresh air. The concepts are certainly easy, the details on the other hand take some thought and planning. A new home ventilation strategy is fairly straight forward to design and implement. An existing home needs the input from the occupants and good analysis to address the problems. An effective ventilation strategy should address these issues in either new or existing homes.

Remove humidity, odors,, or significant problems from specific areas.

Remove stale, musty or other objectionable air.

Allow the occupants to choose fresh air sources that can be filtered or treated in other ways

Allow the occupants to choose to open windows when outside weather is appropriate

Allow the occupants to operate a system that can provide the amount of fresh air, to the appropriate places, in adequate amounts when needed

Provide fresh air when the outside air creates potential problems, such as Ragweed season or when other allergens are active

Provide air movement within the home, without the use of the expensive blower on the furnace or heat pump.

Allow minimal use of heating or cooling equipment during the shoulder seasons, when temperature changes are minimal, while keeping the home comfortable.

How much fresh air is needed? Going back to the 1890’s, the number has been pegged at 30 CFM (cubic feet per minute) per person. This number was validated in a number of different studies and with the public health authorities in larger cities, dealing with large apartment buildings and recurring respiratory diseases. I was pointed to the quote at the left by Allison Bailles. he located the original book on Google Books, page 20.

Beginning in the 1930s, research into changes in building techniques began to show the optimal number was closer to 15 CFM per person. Some of the changes in construction included the increased use of forced air heating, moving from balloon framing to platform framing, increasing square footage, and the use of insulation in walls and attics. The formula changes from time to time and everyone has an opinion on details. The common point remains, fresh air is needed in every house.

Part of the Ventilation is removing air with a problem. Where is that? Humidity is found in rooms that use hot water and basements. Showers, tubs and cooking are the large sources of humidity. The smells from food preparation and cooking can be very mouthwatering. When the meal is finished and the refrigerator is full, the lingering smells become odors. The answer is some spot ventilation in these areas. If your basement has a humidity problem, you can tackle that with a fitted sump pump cover to contain the humidity, and work to eliminate any water seepage.

Spot ventilation is a window that opens and an exhaust fan. The size of these fans is part of the formula that is specific to each home. The features of the fan are common to all homes. It must be quiet. Builder grade fans are noisy. Noise in fans is measured in ‘Sones’. The Sone is a linear measurement of noise, compared to the decibels used by OSHA and others which is an exponential measurement. Linear is better for quiet sounds, and decibels is better for loud noises. Fans should be less than 3 sones, and preferably less than 1 sone. Reasonably priced fans are available that rate a 0.3 sones. A 1 sone fan is very quiet.

Fans are certified for air flow and noise levels by the Home Ventilation Institute. HVI certification is very common and includes both the Sone rating and CFM rating. When installing a fan, you must consider the duct losses that will occur in meeting the required air flow. The rates for bathroom air flow are 50 CFM, and 100 CFM for a kitchen. Do not expect to buy a 50 CFM fan for a bathroom and connect it to 6 or 8 feet of duct work, and obtain 50 CFM. I have measured 30 CFM routinely in these set ups.

Most people understand that various parts of their body are just a part of the whole. If you start some type of therapy, there may be a side effect. Physical Therapy starts and you end up with some sore muscles, aha! Side Effect! Start a therapy for cancer and your hair may fall out, aha! Side Effect! Your home works the same way. Each part is just part of the whole. Change something, aha! What is the side effect?

All of the items in the list above are part of the whole. For an existing home, some specifics of that house may indicate concentration on one or another of those areas. A home built in the 1920’s will benefit from a different approach then a house built in the 1980’s.

A new home should have the ventilation system that meets the general points above. The natural ventilation provided when windows and doors are opened, or the mechanical ventilation system that allows filtered and perhaps treated fresh air brought in from specific places and in specific amounts, allow the occupants to make the system work as they need.

In Part 1a, we have looked at how your builder builds your home to keep water from the outside from damaging your home. He used materials to shed the water and he lapped them over each other, from the roof peak and the shingles all the way down to the ground. And then directed the water away from the house, using gutters and sloping the landscape away from the house. Easy, quick and it looks nice.

In Part 1b, we looked at how your builder builds your home on the inside to keep water where you want it, and provide easy clean up when it does get out of the pipes, the sink, tub or shower.

You can think of this as bulk water. You can see it, this is water that is usually measured in quarts or gallons, and it is responsible for 50 – 60 % of the water damage that occurs over time. The exact percentage depends on the source doing the figuring. So why is there a Part 1c? There is one remaining source of moisture in most homes. Water Vapor. Hard to see it, hard to measure it. The damage water vapor causes is usually found to be very extensive.

If you have a roof leak, it usually ends up inside and you find it while it is relatively small. When it is fixed the damage is limited and fairly easy to fix. Leaks from plumbing and over flowing sinks and tubs, is usually caught very fast. The surface is easy to clean up and many times contains the water. Damage from these sources doesn’t really occur unless the water continues over time to get there. It stays wet and is not allowed to dry out.

Flood type events are not really of concern here. When they happen, the homeowner is aware, his insurance may cover repairs and there are lots of contractors that will do the work. Generally, they have little to do with how the house was built.

Water vapor is present in varying amounts in every home. What is the relative humidity in the home? 40% – 25% – 65%? That is water vapor in the air. We add to that from breathing, cooking, and hygiene activities, like showers and running hot water for various purposes.

How do we control this water vapor?

Spot ventilation. This may be as simple as opening a window next to the stove where the pasta is boiling, or the tea pot is ready to pour. It may be using an exhaust fan over the stove to actually remove the water vapor from cooking out of the house. Same in the shower.

When the heat and humidity arrive around here, in the summer, it is air-conditioning season. Most air conditioners will lower the temperature of the air and remove some of the humidity at the same time. Somedays they do a great job, somedays the ac unit really has to work and it. Occasionally, you will find a unit that makes the room fairly cold, and you just feel clammy. Like you just walked in from 100° outside and you are wet all over. The trouble is, it doesn’t go away. You keep feeling cold and clammy.

That is the first way that water vapor causes a problem with our homes, it makes us uncomfortable.

How does the water vapor move into the walls and attic to cause problems like the liquid or bulk water we looked at? It has two ways to move. Air Movement and Vapor Diffusion.

Vapor Diffusion involves moving a vapor, in this case water. It involves temperature and pressure. It also involves Math, lots of fancy math. I know some math teachers that can run these numbers, and a couple of physicists here in Kansas. I’m sure the characters on TV’s ‘Big Bang Theory’ could run the numbers.

The good news is, we don’t have to run the numbers. If you take a room in your home with the humidity at 40% and 70° – you will find less than a gallon of actual water. By the time all the numbers are done, the answer is: Yes – Vapor Diffusion put some of that water vapor into the wall. And we can test that the 7% moisture content of the drywall, studs and other parts of the wall, is now 7.5 or 8%. Not much change. If you have read much on this blog, you know I lower my blood pressure by turning wood, into bowls. Anything less than 12% moisture content in wood is considered dry.

If the builder bought kiln dried lumber, and kept the rain off it, while the house was built, the wood is probably 8 – 9 % moisture content when the home is finished. Kiln dried lumber is typically 6 – 8 %. Moving from an enclosed type shed to the job site, wood will pick up a little moisture.

What about air movement and water vapor? That is the one to take care of. Uncontrolled air movement takes the water vapor right along with it. When that vapor comes in contact with a surface that is below the current dew point, it will condense and the liquid wets the material. We know that energy savings is easy to obtain with air sealing. So fixing the air leaks is good for stopping the water vapor from making our house wet also. How much? This graphic from the guys at Building Science Corporation shows how much.

In the first installment of A Healthy House, we looked at water issues. Specifically, water from the outside of the home. Most of this type of water is directly from what the weather refers to as ‘precipitation’, or rain and snow. Even the ground water we looked at were related to rain and snow. There are other types of water issues.

First would be a plumbing problem. You can have a leak in a water pipe, or a sewer line. I know, sewer lines generally do no leak, they slow down, or plug up and then back up. Either way there is water in the house, and someone is cleaning it up.

Many plumbing leaks like this or sewer problems are an ongoing maintenance issue. Not much can be done during construction.

Situations like the drain line, getting stepped on and thus the floor drain is the highest spot in the floor is a construction issue. It takes all the trades to help finish the building correctly. The plumber may have done it right, only to have someone else step on the line.

A nail accidentally driven next to a supply pipe, may cause a problem later. If you have copper, 2 dissimilar metals touching will eventually cause a leak. A nail next to a plastic line that moves, can also create a leak. You may find great work in a home and good, conscientious, plumbers, drywall installers, electricians and others. Sometimes these defects are hidden, like the tip of the nail inside a wall. So maintenance becomes an ongoing effort.

Thoughtful design can help. Specifying hard surfaces for areas within a few feet of tubs, showers, toilets, sinks and laundry facilities is important. Most leaks, spills and accidents will occur in these areas. An easy to clean surface that doesn’t hold the moisture is essential. Carpet has it’s place, just not near water. Some floor coverings such as linoleum or cork type flooring may also not be appropriate for these areas. (Image to the right is courtesy of DalTile.)

Appropriately located floor drains can help. Use of appropriate materials in the floor structure is a good thing. Most homes in this area have a basement, meaning a wooden subfloor is under and of these facilities on the main or upper floors. The proper type of sub floor in these areas is crucial to keeping the home dry. It is also helpful in drying, when the floor does get wet and not encouraging mold growth, as many types of common building materials.

Water in a house, Good Thing, Bad Thing? Some places like the sink you expect to find water. Other places like the floor, water is a problem. Builders work hard to build a home so water says where it belongs.

Look at the way the roof is installed! The shingles are layered from bottom to top. They are also lapped over each layer. So water, will drain down the roof and off. If water gets up under a shingle, the roofing crew has done some other things like roofing felt, metal valleys and flashing to do the job.

Look at the water run off the overhang in the top picture. When it rains most of the water hits the roof, the overhang changes how much strikes the wall. Matt Risinger, a home builder in Austin, TX, tweeted this graphic recently.

Do you think Matt builds homes with short overhangs?

The layers on the roof are repeated for the same purpose for other areas of the house. They work the same way. Some are installed the same way, some are installed differently. Other areas of your home have a different experience with water.

The outer layer of a wall, the siding, like the shingles, are lapped. The next layer behind the lapped siding is usually known as house wrap. That’s the white covering you see on many new homes, before the siding is installed. Technically, the term for this is ‘Weather Resistant Barrier’ or WRB. Just as the roofing felt helps keep water outside on the roof, the WRB helps keep water outside on walls.

Just as the roofing felt, shingles, and siding are lapped; house wrap should also be lapped, each new layer draining onto the top of the layer below. The directions call for a 6 inch lap, and then tape. The tape is used on house wrap and not roofing felt, because it is a different material, cap nails should be used.

How does the home buyer know the house wrap is right? It passed a code inspection, didn’t it? This image shows damaged house wrap. Is it taped and lapped correctly? Are the fasteners used according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Do these problems mean that house wrap is bad. Certainly not! House wrap is a great product when installed correctly. It will do the job it is designed to do; act as a Weather Resistant Barrier. It will then, direct water back outside and not allow it into the wall.

Windows and doors need an opening in the wall. These openings must be detailed correctly or water will enter. These details involve flashings, and tapes. How the window is made, with nailing flanges, with foldable nailing flanges or field installed nailing flanges must be considered. Here we see a tape used to seal the nailing flange to the house wrap.

Is house wrap the only type of WRB used? No! It is the most widely used in this area. The others will be covered in a future post.

Now if the roof and the wall properly shed water, and they guide any water that gets inside back out, we get to the ground. At this point the water should be directed away from the house. Gutters and down spouts do a great job when the ground slopes away. Recommended slopes are 1/4 inch per foot for hard surfaces like concrete, and 1/2 inch per foot for other surfaces. Local codes may require more, or a builder preference may result in a larger grade.

The basement or foundation walls should be damp-proofed on the outside. This is the black spray applied to the concrete. A tile drain system is installed around the exterior of the foundation and tied into a sump to be pumped out of the home.

If these or other equivalent measures are built into a new home, the builder is doing the job right. They are all in the building code. The issue is not what material, the issue is quality of workmanship.

Building a new home, gives the homebuyer an opportunity to build in all the things they want. The floor plan, bedroom arrangement, windows are all important.

Also right up there is a house that is healthy. Everywhere you look, someone is pitching, this is healthy for you. We have lots of buzz words for healthy. Organic, whole grain, anti-oxidant, reduced fat, low sugar, wellness, all-natural are but a few. How do you make a house into a healthy home? It starts with design and a few simple objectives. Ideally, a healthy home is:

Dry

Clean

Well Ventilated

Combustion by-product free

Pest Free

Chemical Care

Comfortable

Safe

It seems fairly simple. We want a roof over our head to keep the elements out. Hot or cold, rain or snow, we don’t want them in our home. The dry home starts with a well constructed roof. That keeps the weather related water like rain or snow out. Then the walls, and the foundation.

Clean may be obvious, or not. Well Ventilated and Combustion by-product free, along with pest free, no toxic chemicals, comfortable and safe seem also to be obvious. There is a saying about the Devil being in the details. It is certainly that way in building a home. So a few details on these topics that make up a Healthy Home are important.

I will be posting a series based on the Healthy Home. We will take a look at each of the points listed above and what they mean to the home owner.